The Sound Hounds are a music duo in the Houston area, playing what they would call “the greatest hits of the 20th century” since 2023. Their repertoire spans myriad genres, drawing from sources outside of typical 20th-century setlists. Folk music of various cultures, film and television soundtracks, revamped jazz standards, rock classics, and beyond, are all part of the unique experience of a Sound Hounds show. However, the story of how Brian Turner and Rolando “Roy” Peña–two individuals across different generations, cultures, and lived experiences–came together over a passion for music is even more interesting.

It seems appropriate that Brian Turner was born in 1954, a birth year shared with the legendary Fender Stratocaster. Rock ‘n’ roll was still in its infancy, with pioneers like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry bursting onto the scene. What people thought entertainment was or could be was evolving in real-time on the airwaves. Radio and television were in a golden age, but then, something happened one Sunday night in 1964 that changed the world forever: The Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Almost overnight, kids everywhere walked around with transistor radios pressed to their ears, antennas pointed toward the sky, listening to what would become the soundtrack of their lives. Brian was ten years old when that moment hit, when he and all the kids on the block knew they wanted to be a Beatle. Guitars were suddenly everywhere, and Brian was one of the many trying his best to learn.

As the 1960s rolled forward, popular music kept evolving, as louder, deeper, more adventurous artists like Jimi Hendrix, Genesis, and Pink Floyd became household names. In an era before the internet, Brian pursued guitar tirelessly with any resource available: a cousin, a few friends, some notoriously shoddy guitar books, and a work-ethic unrivaled by most. Brian himself has even remarked that he attributes part of his success to never owning a television in early adulthood; guitar enraptured him so.

He graduated high school in 1973 and immediately began taking private guitar lessons at local studios. Throughout the 1970s, he played in multiple rock bands while studying with every teacher he could find in the Houston area. Eventually, he met Manuel Pedraza, an experienced instructor whose specialty was jazz and classical. Brian studied with Mr. Pedraza for several years, and at Pedraza’s recommendation, he later became a teacher at the same studio.

By the early 1980s, between teaching guitar and performing in rock and rhythm-and-blues bands, Brian lived the fast-paced life of a full-time musician. As the 80s went on, something unexpected happened: his musical curiosity expanded. A child of his time, Brian had grown up with the progressive influences of legends like David Gilmour and Steve Hackett, but he began “going backwards in time,” as he might say, to learn from the giants on whose shoulders his heroes stood. Brian studied the jazz of Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian, the folk masters like Doc Watson and Chet Atkins, and the rich histories of traditional music, such as the Celtic tradition, from groups like The Chieftains.

He also performed acoustic music at the Texas Renaissance Festival and gigged around Houston with bands including The Fab Five and Five Below Zero. All the while, he often taught 40 pupils a week or more, year after year, eventually teaching thousands throughout Humble and the Northeast Houston area at Humble Music Center. And as he explored new styles, he passed that love of music on to his students.

Some students stood out. A few stood out a lot.

Roy Peña was unusual. While many kids picked away at music lessons to pass the time, he devoured new material and welcomed more; while many kids thought only of learning Smells Like Teen Spirit, he demonstrated an ample musical palette.

Roy’s fascination for music started early and at home, where his dad played eclectic music daily. Queen, Joaquin Sabina, Credence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Oscar Chavez, and more, were normal sounds for normal days and normal car rides. As his older brothers developed their own musical tastes, they introduced him to artists of the time, such as Daft Punk, They Might Be Giants, Radiohead, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gorillaz, and System of a Down. Roy has also been a lifelong nerd; the soundtracks of TV shows–Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, SpongeBob Squarepants, and Pokemon, to name a few–and of games like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Final Fantasy accompanied many formative memories. In short, Roy was almost destined to fall in love with music for its own sake.

Inspired by his oldest brother who picked up guitar, Roy started bass lessons with Brian at 12 to accompany his sibling. However, he gradually found himself practicing his brother’s guitar more than bass. At 13, he acquired his first guitar, a sunburst Fender Stratocaster, and Brian became his guitar instructor. Roy remained an avid musician during high school, playing contrabass and guitar for the school orchestra, composing and doing drums for the rock band Halfstack, and honing his skills with Brian at Humble Music. After graduating high school, Roy stepped away from music as a profession and pursued academic endeavors; Brian assumed they would never meet again as the boy went off to make his way in life. Roy traveled to the northeast and double-majored in linguistics and psychology at a four-year institution, and he moved to Germany immediately after, beginning a career as a language instructor.

In fact, travel and encounters with the other have been quintessential parts to forming the person Roy is today, both on and off stage. Life has taken Roy across multiple cities and countries and made clear to him that humans are inherently creative. People create communities that thrive in vastly different ways, and no matter the culture encountered, all had ways of interpreting the gamut of the human experience through song. After living in Europe for a time, he returned to the States in 2020, where he pursued a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling and was able to directly apply his love and appreciation for persons of all life paths in his work. He graduated in the fall of 2022.

On an autumn day like any other, Brian received a phone call from a voice and name he had not heard in a decade. Brian and Roy started to play music again, and without skipping a beat, they reestablished a respect and admiration for each other’s musicianship, only now as two adults whose paths had diverged and reconverged. That was the genesis of The Sound Hounds.

Since then, they have gone on to dazzle communities at restaurants, bars, farmers’ markets, retirement homes, and even Houston’s Lights in the Heights. And Brian and Roy continue to bring The Sound Hounds name to stages around Houston. With their different personalities, cultures, and generational experiences, their friendship is a symbol of the uniting power of music. If you, too, love music and believe in its capacity to transcend human boundaries, then The Sound Hounds–a band as singular as a fingerprint–are a show you won’t want to miss.